What does being competitive mean to you, and how competitive are you?

Question

Rachelle Enns · Accepted Answer

"Being competitive means that I am focused on winning. This can mean winning independently or as a team. On a scale of 1-10, I would rank my competitiveness at an 8. I like to compete internally, creating small personal milestones and connecting them to a time limit. For instance, if I complete the data entry for 50 new customers in under three hours, I reward myself with a quick coffee break. I often carry on this internal competition throughout the day until all of my tasks are complete. When it comes to being competitive in a team setting, I spend most of my time uplifting my coworkers and helping them succeed. When my co-workers win, so do I."

Rachelle Enns · Answer

The interviewer would like to know that your level of ambition is a match for the company and the job. The goal of your response is to show the interviewer that you will bring a consistent and appropriate amount of competitiveness to the role. Express that you view workplace competitiveness as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Rachelle Enns · Answer

Avoid giving the impression that you are a ruthlessly competitive person. The interviewer does not want to detect combativeness. Instead, they want to know that your level of ambition will complement the hiring company's values and align with the goals and personality of its existing team members.

Rachelle Enns · Answer

When you answer, consider telling a brief story that supports your response. Be prepared to talk about a time you were placed in a competitive situation and thrived. Your example should be work-related. If you are new to your career, consider providing an example from school or sports.

Rachelle Enns · Answer

"To be competitive is to be eager to succeed. I have a competitive personality that stems from my years of participating in high school and college-level team sports. I learned to be competitive in my performance while encouraging my teammates to give their best. I am always striving to be better."

Anonymous User · Answer

"For me, it means when peers challenge each other to be better or deliver better. I do not consider myself competitive, but I do like to show results, and I do put playful competition into play. For example, if we said completing performance reviews on time was a key metric, I would then post the results by department monthly. I find that departments naturally compete with each other to attain better numbers."

Anonymous User · Answer

"Competition, for me, stems from playing organized sports throughout my childhood and into high school. I find that I thrive off of healthy competition. I love competition because it motivates me to be the best. I am very naturally driven, but competition allows me to push further and achieve even greater results."

Anonymous User · Answer

"Being competitive means having a "winning" mentality in life and always having the desire to be #1and the best at everything you do. Competitive people are driven and perform best when in an environment that constantly challenges them and is surrounded by peers that push them to be better. I am a very competitive person in all aspects of my life."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I am very competitive to me this means winning and being the best, not only in my team but also in the company. It means to exceed my goals and targets and be ahead of the game. My manager had set an incentive to invite the most HCP's to a company organized training event. I worked overtime to ensure that I utilized all communication forms with healthcare professionals (email/phone/f2f, etc.). I was encouraging my colleagues to do the same."

Anonymous User · Answer

"It means achieving/winning. I am a very competitive person. Always have been. I am keen to win and so at work means new business. I am a tenacious person but deliver and win in an empathetic way again bringing a solution to the customer that no one else brings, adding value."

Anonymous User · Answer

"Being competitive means aiming to be the best. Consistently working towards making a positive contribution. When I see someone successful, it drives me and inspires me to push further. To improve my skills and grow professionally and to stand out. I feel that if someone else can do it, so can I."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I learned to be competitive with myself, to try to First time right, use the 1-10-100 rule. 1 means cost of doing non-quality x 1, 10 means cost of non-quality x 10 and same way x 100.

I strongly believe in continual improvement, as a leader, we combine our efforts to build a strong team using PRIDE (Purposeful vision, role model, Integrity, Develop and Empower) concept. Always push the bar using benchmarking techniques and never stop striving for the best."

Anonymous User · Answer

"Being competitive to me means having a strong desire to win. And this doesn't always have to be in the traditional sense as first over the finish line, but having the drive what to do better than previously, and overachieve. I am competitive, especially with myself I always want to push myself to do better than previously. I want to overachieve on my sales targets, I want to be hitting above my KPIs not just meeting them. I work with my colleagues in order for us to compete, and win against the competition, but not compete with each other, as we all have the same end goal. And I am not so competitive that I would do anything to win, like stepping on others or cheating in order to get the sale or promotion."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I am very competitive and will always give you my best never quit no matter what. I learned from my father if I can look myself in the eye and say I did my best, I'm always a winner. This translates to work because I am always in competition with myself. My goal is to always do it better and more efficiently no matter what I'm doing which lets me to more than quadruple the normal personal trainers' income and ultimately more than double my income at each new job."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I like healthy competition. It drives growth and improvement. I would say I'm more inwardly competitive than outwardly competitive. I am driven to meet goals and keep commitments simply because I said I would, not necessarily because they are time-sensitive. I will do what it takes to achieve and exceed expectations. My internal competitive nature is apparent in my hobbies - I enjoy individual sports like cycling, skiing, photography where I am always working to improve, but competing primarily against myself."

Anonymous User · Answer

"Competitiveness doesn't necessarily have to be a negative trait. I use competitiveness to seek to improve and exceed my targets. For example, when carrying out a surgical procedure, in some minor procedures it is beneficial to carry out the procedure quicker so that the patient is not under anesthesia for a prolonged period. I time myself to see how long it takes me to finish one patient from start to finish and attempt to reduce the time, whilst still maintaining good surgical practice and patient care."

Anonymous User · Answer

"Competitive means to strive toward higher performance. It can be done in a friendly way with coworkers or individually."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I am very competitive. I few competitions as an opportunity to learn and grow as an individual as well as support and push myself and my team to do our best."

What does being competitive mean to you, and how competitive are you?

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